Folk and Tonic: All-women ensemble explores global folk music

Folk and Tonic have been performing covers of Japanese, Spanish and Irish folk tunes for almost a decade, writes Sathvi G Bhat

Since 2017, all-women ensemble Folk and Tonic, have been entertaining Bengaluru audiences with covers of global folk music. Their repertoire spans eastern European, Russian, Japanese, African, Afro-Cuban, Indian, and Ladino folk traditions. They draw on the rich harmonies of these musical traditions and combine them with their own vocal identities.

“Folk is about passing down stories. We try to give context and draw the audience into these narratives,” says Deepa Jacob, mezzo-soprano of the group, which will perform in Bengaluru tonight.

Earlier called The Bangalore Company, the quartet comprises Deepa, Anisha Chandy (soprano), Sowmya Raghavan (alto), and Nora Alexy (contra-alto). The ensemble is occasionally accompanied by Varun Krishna (classical guitar), Siddharth Suresh (keyboard) and Sanket Chakraborty (percussion and sound engineer). 

The group’s synergy stems from a lifetime immersed in harmony. Anisha grew up singing in church, which led to a brief stint as a recording artiste for the Indian film industry while Deepa and Nora found their footing in the world of collegiate a cappella. “It was like a page out of ‘Pitch Perfect’,” Nora explains. Sowmya’s influences are equally diverse, ranging from being a part of her school choir to her keen interest in the raw energy of rock metal and blues. “It feels right, we are one strong unit,” she notes.

Navigating the vocal arrangements of these diverse musical streams as an all-women ensemble also presents unique technical puzzles. Without a male bass line, they need to be strategic with their vocal registers. “There aren’t many all-female references,” Nora explains. The group frequently refers to the blueprints of all female ensembles ‘Sexto Sentido’ and ‘Coco’s Lunch’.

Some diverse musical pieces the group frequently performs include ‘The parting glass’, a 17th century Irish-Scottish folk song which signifies parting and is often sung at farewells, ’Puncha puncha’, a Spanish ladino folk tune representing heartbreak and melancholic emotions, and ‘Sakura’, a 17th century Japanese folk song describing the turn of the seasons marking the start of cherry blossoms.

Their repertoire reflects the connections between different styles of music from across the globe. Sowmya notes how migration carried musical DNA across borders, connecting Italian pieces to Indian folk. By blending these traditions with their own vocal identities, the group allows audiences to travel across continents while staying exactly where they are.

“The city has a big appetite for this,” Sowmya says of Bengaluru’s live scene. “I think folk music is always relevant and will far outlive any of us,” she concludes.